Elon Musk has made it clear. He’s going to inhabit Mars. But the first natural step, he says, will be the moon. We’ve reported on the moon base station. NASA knows that plants can grow on the moon. And countries like China and Russia have declared they will build cities there too using nuclear power. Stepping up to democratize the moon is an EU-funded company, Deep Space Energy, which has just raised more than $1 million USD as a seed fund to help it create energy generators on the moon. It’s a bid to strengthen the European sovereign space and defense industry and power Moon surface exploration.

The researchers are from Latvia: “Our technology, which has already been validated in the laboratory, has several applications across the defence and space sectors.

“First, we’re developing an auxiliary energy source to enhance the resilience of strategic satellites. It provides the redundancy of satellite power systems by supplying backup power that does not depend on solar energy, making it crucial for high-value military reconnaissance assets,” says Mihails Ščepanskis, founder and CEO of the company.

Based in Riga, the company is developing a radioisotopic generator toward commercialisation. The electricity comes from nuclear decay — a nuclear process. And the equipment does not include a nuclear reactor which could explode.

The funding was made up of its €350k pre-Seed round led by Outlast Fund and Linas Sargautis, an angel investor and a former co-founder of NanoAvionics. The company also secured additional €580k in public contracts and grants by the European Space Agency (ESA), NATO DIANA, and the Latvian government. It’s not a huge sum of money for such an ambitious project but it’s a start.

European and American military and space technologies are what leads to new inventions in medicine, ecology and renewable energy.

Military spy satellites evolved into Earth-monitoring satellites that now track deforestation (Amazon, Congo), (see MIT using AI and imaging for trees in cities) they can monitor methane leaks and pollution; and satellites predict droughts and crop failures.

Military thermal imaging using infrared vision is now used to detect inflammation and vascular disease, it can screen for breast cancer and detect fevers at airports.

In the 2025–2026 period, EU-Startups has reported substantial capital flows into the European SpaceTech sector, primarily at Seed and Series A stage.

Germany’s Reflex Aerospace secured €50 million to scale sovereign satellite platforms, while France’s Infinite Orbits raised €40 million to expand in-orbit servicing capabilities. Also in France, Look Up attracted €50 million to grow its radar-based space surveillance network, and UNIVITY secured €31 million to accelerate development of a space-based 5G constellation.

In Germany, Marble Imaging raised €5.3 million to scale its very high resolution Earth observation satellites ahead of launch, while Spain’s Kreios Space secured €8 million to advance propulsion systems for very low Earth orbit. Italy’s Astradyne raised €2 million to commercialise ultralight solar panels, and Spain’s Orbital Paradigm closed a €1.5 million pre-Seed round to develop reusable space capsules.

Collectively, these rounds represent approximately €187 million in disclosed funding moving into European SpaceTech across adjacent segments including satellite infrastructure, propulsion, communications, servicing and observation.

Deep Space Energy says it will put a focus on energy resilience for satellites and lunar missions rather than platform deployment.

“As Europe is trying to become more independent, it is imperative to produce satellites with advanced capabilities on our own. Our technology provides an auxiliary energy source for satellites, which makes them more resilient to non-kinetic attacks and malfunctions,” Mihails adds.

Founded in 2022, Deep Space Energy is developing a new radioisotope power generator for space that uses the heat produced by the nuclear self-decay of radioisotopes – materials extractable from waste of commercial nuclear reactors.

The product aims for applications in deep space science missions, lunar surface missions and high-value defense satellites. Their solution converts that heat into electric power, requiring 5 times less radioisotope fuel than a thermo-electric generator (RTG), currently used in space.

The company highlighted that its radioisotope-based energy generator is not designed for any kind of weapons. It will target high-value, dual-use satellites to increase their resilience and operational reliability. The primary focus is on satellites operating in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO), Geostationary Orbit (GEO) and Highly Elliptical Orbit (HEO), which are all critical for modern military reconnaissance and early-warning systems.

These satellites support a range of defence functions, from synthetic aperture radar (SAR)
satellites for detecting troop concentrations through clouds and foliage, to signal intelligence for intercepting communications and radio transmissions, as well as missile-launch detection, which is essential for anti-missile defense systems.

Egita Poļanska, partner at the lead investor Outlast Fund, shares: “Space energy tech has been stuck with certain limitations for decades, but we’re finally seeing the pieces come together for a real breakthrough – new materials, smarter power systems, and actual commercial demand for lunar operations.

“Deep Space Energy is building the infrastructure that will literally power the next chapter of space exploration and industry. As Europe ramps up its space ambitions, we need our own companies to lead in these foundational technologies. We’re thrilled to back this team and honestly pretty excited to have an actual moonshot in our portfolio, in the most literal sense possible.”

In the long term, the company aims to focus on the Moon economy. The radioisotope power generator looks to address critical energy challenges in the next phase of lunar exploration, including NASA and ESA’s Artemis, Argonaut and lunar rover programs, as well as the Moon Village framework led by the Moon Village Association. In particular, the technology is designed to support lunar night survival and operations in permanently shadowed regions, enabling extended scouting and prospecting missions.

On the Moon, where the temperatures at night drop below 150 degrees Celsius, and nights last for roughly 354 hours, moonrovers can’t rely on solar power.

The company’s technology requires approximately 2kg of Americium-241 fuel to generate 50W of power for a lunar rover, compared with around 10kg of radioisotope material needed by legacy RTG systems for comparable output. Given current projections that Americium-241 production capacity will reach around 10kg per year by the mid-2030s, this efficiency could enable lunar exploration missions to begin more than five years earlier and at up to five times the mission volume.

According to Ščepanskis, the company’s technology can significantly enhance the economics of moon rover missions by enabling them to last multiple day-night cycles up to a few years. The sole expenses of bringing payload to the Moon cost up to a million euros per kilogram; thus, by enhancing the lifetime of the rovers, the company helps to save hundreds of millions.

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There is a narrow window, once about every 2 years (26 months), when SpaceX can send a rocket to Mars. Given the narrow timeframe, distance and time to get to the moon, Elon Musk has augmented the bigger mission and has turned getting to the Moon, and inhabiting, a smaller, easier to achieve mini-mission.

He wrote on X today, “For those unaware, SpaceX has already shifted focus to building a self-growing city on the Moon, as we can potentially achieve that in less than 10 years, whereas Mars would take 20+ years. The mission of SpaceX remains the same: extend consciousness and life as we know it to the stars.

“It is only possible to travel to Mars when the planets align every 26 months (six month trip time), whereas we can launch to the Moon every 10 days (2 day trip time). This means we can iterate much faster to complete a Moon city than a Mars city.

“That said, SpaceX will also strive to build a Mars city and begin doing so in about 5 to 7 years, but the overriding priority is securing the future of civilization and the Moon is faster.”

 

We love to dream about humans on the moon, not because we personally want to go there, but because the technology and design needed to support life on the moon can actually make our lives on Earth more sustainably focused. Agriculture, water use, and building on the moon or Mars will need to be lean, sustainable and probably closed loop.

They will need technologies that can provide limitless energy from the sun, and which can squeeze water from human waste and even from the air.

This Dune-inspired spacesuit can recycle urine on Mars – want to help them raise money?

Aiming for the stars has always had a knock-on effect for health as well. Many technologies used in diagnostics were derived from the Space and Defence industries.

Elon Musk isn’t the only one reaching for the moon and Mars. China said last year that it will build a space station with Russia on the moon (it plans on mining the moon first), using nuclear power (please do not blow up the moon!) and the United Arab Emirates plans on joining SpaceX on Mars. 

He says it’s not important who gets there first; it’s important who brings equipment to build civilization. 

It can take 3 to 5 days to get to the moon. Would you go if you were given the chance?

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]]> https://www.greenprophet.com/2026/02/elon-musk-to-create-mars-base-station-on-the-moon/feed/ 1 https://www.greenprophet.com/2025/07/space-travel-sunscreen-found-in-new-fungus-experiment/ Tue, 08 Jul 2025 14:10:18 +0000 https://www.greenprophet.com/?p=149413 Moving to Mars? He’s a new fungus-based sunscreen to protect you from gamma radiation Planning on traveling aboard SpaceX on a trip to Mars? An American lab just found a new potential sunscreen that creates protective melanin, a low-cost alternative to squid ink. It can be grown on space labs and used on Mars. Here […]

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Moving to Mars? He’s a new fungus-based sunscreen to protect you from gamma radiation

Planning on traveling aboard SpaceX on a trip to Mars? An American lab just found a new potential sunscreen that creates protective melanin, a low-cost alternative to squid ink. It can be grown on space labs and used on Mars.

Here is the story!

Several years ago, Erin Carr’s doctoral adviser Steven Harris handed her bags of soil collected from the soil crust of a cold British Columbian desert. She went to work on it, suspending it in liquid, plating it onto a growth medium and treating it with antibiotics and antifungals. Then, she replated the tiny black dots that emerged.

Those dots turned out to be a novel fungus — Exophiala viscosa, though Carr dubbed it Goopy — that may just be a resource for large-scale, cost-effective production of melanin, with applications in ultraviolet-protective products and advanced materials for aerospace and other industries.

Related: Mars found a way to store carbon, can we?

Melanin is a natural pigment that determines the color of human skin, hair and eyes. Humans produce it with specialized cells called melanocytes and its concentration directly impacts skin tone, with more melanin resulting in darker skin. Melanin also plays a crucial role in a number of human health concerns: It protects the skin from harmful UV radiation, helping prevent skin cancer and other cancers and reducing inflammation associated with diseases such as diabetes and fatty liver disease.

Acquiring large quantities of melanin is problematic. Its primary source is squid ink, which requires a squid’s death to obtain small amounts, at a cost of about $300 per gram, said Carr, a postdoctoral research associate at Rajib Saha’s Systems and Synthetic Biology Lab in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering.

Related: she’s growing food on Mars 

Certain fungi in cold deserts also naturally produce melanin, incorporating it into cell walls and releasing it under certain conditions. That is where Goopy comes in, said Rajib Saha, Richard L. and Carol S. McNeel Associate Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and the principal investigator on a three-year, $1,032,070 grant from the National Science Foundation to study the fungi’s potential in melanin production.

The difference between E. viscosa’s production of melanin and other fungi’s is that it “not only produces melanin and not only stores melanin in the membrane, it transports it out,” Saha said.

It is an unusual behavior that could make E. viscosa useful in large-scale melanin production.

Other fungi produce and store melanin but do not excrete it.

One hypothesis is that E. viscosa is partnering with photosynthetic organisms also found in that cold desert crust environment, such as algae and cyanobacteria, and within that relationship, melanin is being exchanged for essential nutrients, Carr said.

Because melanin may be an essential biomolecule for the survival of E. viscosa, its production of the substance may function more as a primary metabolite rather than a secondary, non-essential metabolite, she added.

Saha said the research aims to investigate this symbiosis to uncover the triggers regulating melanin production.

Carr is growing the fungus in a triculture that includes algae and cyanobacteria. Saha and his grad students will run computer metabolic modeling to help optimize and manipulate melanin pathways in the fungus and identify transcription factors used to regulate melanin production.

“We want to figure out how to optimize and increase the melanin secreted out of the cell so that we can use that melanin to do a wide variety of beneficial things for humanity,” Carr said.

That could mean adding it to sunscreen or textiles for UV radiation protection. It could be useful for space travel since melanin has been known to protect against gamma radiation. Melanin also might be useful in bioremediation of so-called “forever chemicals” and toxic metals that linger in the environment.

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]]> https://www.greenprophet.com/2025/07/why-is-the-martian-night-sky-so-bright-new-nasa-video-sheds-light-on-the-red-planets-glow/ Sun, 06 Jul 2025 12:24:39 +0000 https://www.greenprophet.com/?p=149381 Another factor is sunlight scattering at high altitudes. Even though the Sun sets on Mars just as it does on Earth, light continues to scatter off the high-altitude dust, keeping the sky bright for hours. This is why astronauts may one day be able to navigate or work during the “night” without artificial lighting—at least in the early evening.

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Update: it’s been debunked as a fake.

A newly released NASA video captured by the Perseverance rover has sparked awe and curiosity: the Martian night sky, far from being pitch black, glows with an eerie brightness. The footage, taken from Jezero Crater, shows a surprisingly luminous Martian landscape illuminated under what seems to be a perpetual twilight.

So what’s behind this otherworldly glow?

 

The key lies in Martian dust. Unlike Earth, Mars has a thin atmosphere—just about 1% the density of ours—but it’s filled with ultra-fine particles of iron-rich dust that stay suspended in the air. These particles scatter sunlight long after sunset, creating a lingering glow in the sky. It’s similar to Earth’s twilight effect, but stretched much longer and redder due to the planet’s fine particulate matter and lack of moisture.

Related: Mars can teach Earth how to store carbon

Another factor is sunlight scattering at high altitudes. Even though the Sun sets on Mars just as it does on Earth, light continues to scatter off the high-altitude dust, keeping the sky bright for hours. This is why astronauts may one day be able to navigate or work during the “night” without artificial lighting—at least in the early evening.

Interestingly, the brightness also helps with scientific observations. The enhanced visibility aids in tracking passing meteors, dust devils, and even detecting faint clouds in the Martian atmosphere.

So while Mars might seem like a lifeless desert, its night sky proves it’s still very much a planet in motion—with light, dust, and mystery dancing above its rusty sands.

Elon Musk is preparing SpaceX to head to Mars. Would you like to see nigh skies like this?

 

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]]> https://www.greenprophet.com/2025/06/spacex-and-seti-partner-to-protect-alien-hunting-telescopes-but-what-about-the-rest-of-the-sky/ Wed, 25 Jun 2025 12:38:23 +0000 https://www.greenprophet.com/?p=149258 SpaceX has taken steps to address concerns, including darker satellite coatings and directional signal shielding. But critics argue that without enforceable global standards, voluntary measures may not go far enough. Meanwhile, scientists at SETI and other institutions continue developing tools to protect the last wild frontier: the cosmic spectrum.

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New agreement aims to shield radio astronomy from satellite interference, but the night sky faces growing threats.

The Bigger Picture: Space Junk and a Dimming Night Sky

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NASA’s Europa Clipper yesterday began its voyage to investigate a vast ocean buried under the icy crust of Jupiter’s moon Europa. If Europa is found to have the ingredients for life, that discovery would drastically expand the chances of finding life on icy worlds in other solar systems, according to Nature.

The spacecraft will make crucial manoeuvres in space, such as deploying radar antennas, to prepare for its arrival in 2030. “We’re watching through our fingers with excitement,” says planetary scientist Kathleen Craft. “Everything needs to go right.”

Technicians encapsulated NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft inside payload fairings on Wednesday, Oct. 2, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The fairings will protect the spacecraft during launch as it begins its journey to explore Jupiter’s icy moon Europa. Credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky

But, of course, before any of that can happen, the spacecraft has to leave Earth behind. The orbiter’s solar arrays are folded and stowed for launch. Testing is complete on the spacecraft’s various systems and its payload of nine science instruments and a gravity science investigation. Loaded with over 6,060 pounds (2,750 kilograms) of the propellant that will get Europa Clipper to Jupiter, the spacecraft has been encapsulated in the protective nose cone, or payload fairing, atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, which is poised for takeoff from historic Launch Complex 39A.

Launch Sequences

The Falcon Heavy has two stages and two side boosters. After the side boosters separate, the core stage will be expended into the Atlantic Ocean. Then the second stage of the rocket, which will help Europa Clipper escape Earth’s gravity, will fire its engine.

Related: learn how to make a Jupiter cake

This artist’s concept depicts NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft in orbit at Jupiter as it passes over the gas giant’s icy moon Europa (lower right). Scheduled to arrive at Jupiter in April 2030, the mission will be the first to specifically target Europa for detailed science investigation. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

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The Israeli Government Press Office sent out a notice last night that Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and founder of SpaceX, Starlink and the renewable energy and electric car company Tesla will be visiting Israel. He will meet with Israel’s President Herzog and the families of terror hostages still help by Hamas inside Gaza. The meeting will take place at 3:45PM in an event closed to the press. Materials will be distributed to the press following the meeting.

The visit comes after antisemitic remarks Musk made on the popular X (formerly Twitter) social media platform. In their meeting, the Israeli President will emphasize the need to act to combat rising antisemitism online.

The problem started when Musk endorsed a claim that Jewish communities push “hatred against Whites.”

An X post Wednesday afternoon said: “Jewish communties (sic) have been pushing the exact kind of dialectical hatred against whites that they claim to want people to stop using against them.” The post also mentioned “hordes of minorities” flooding Western countries, a popular antisemitic conspiracy theory.

In response, Musk said: “You have said the actual truth.”

His comments were a painful setback to Jewish communities worldwide facing growing antisemitism since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas terrorists.

After landing in Israel he published a poem on X by Grok, his AI engine: “I asked Grok to write a poem about love.”

On a popular Facebook group in Israel, called Secret Tel Aviv Israelis had mixed responses about the Musk visit. One commenter Saul Wyner wrote, “In all honesty I hope we are polite but distant. I am not interested in fawning over someone who facilitated the greatest explosion in antisemitism in decades.”

Elliot Cohen wrote, “Cannot understand why he is welcomed here after his recent bouts of pure unadulterated antisemitism.”

Hannah Zion said: “I would stop all the whining. I am sure he is there to help Israel. Give him a chance before you all jump down his throat.”

For the environmentalists in the room, ElonJet tracked Musk’s arrival to Israel and said the journey created 62 tons of carbon emissions.

There was no mention of whether Musk would visit Gaza or the West Bank on this trip. The West Bank, which is overseen but hardly run by Mahmoud Abbas, the 88-year-old President of the Palestinian Authority, locals have recently lynched citizens accused of collaborating with Israel. Two days before the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, West Bank Palestinians kidnapped and beheaded a gay man who was living in Israel and on a list to immigrate within the next two months to Canada.

Elon Musk could revive Desertec plan

It will be interesting to see what emerges from the Musk visit. Hopefully it can spur a new business plan that can unite the Middle East with all its endeavours – from Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, to the United Arab Emirates’ more moderate stance on sustainable development. For example, Israel’s Rivulis with its achievements in smart agriculture will be showcased in Masdar City during COP28.

Elon Musk could unite an unstable region with a pan-Middle East electric car and electric truck freight network which connects off-grid solar panels to battery packs that can store and disseminate energy when needed. Think about Lebanon now with its rolling blackouts. Or Jordan, where people still have to truck in water for their daily needs. So much can be done. And from where Desertec failed, Musk could launch. The Middle East and North African countries should be collecting solar energy and shipping it to Europe where it’s needed. Transportation should all be electric.

Musk’s vision of aiming for real action in renewables and green transportation has happened. He is reaching for the stars and Mars where NASA cannot. Musk can draw the blueprint and we will follow. 

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